USA Today ran an article on college athletic's revenue and expenses

USA Today ran an article on the the amount of money spent and taken in by big-time college athletics.

It starts off "More than $800 million in student fees and university subsidies are propping up athletic programs at the nation's top sports colleges, including hundreds of millions in the richest conferences, a USA TODAY analysis found."

Unfortunately, these articles (there have been several) tend to insinuate that the "problem" is the rather large salaries being paid to football coaches (head and assistants). But, unless a university intends to disband ALL sports, the revenue from football and basketball is what pays for all sports programs.

"Of the 119 FBS football teams, 68 (57.1 percent) finished the year in the black.

Of the 119 FBS schools playing men's basketball, 67 teams made a profit. One of those same 119 schools made money in women's basketball in 2008.

FBS football teams recorded a median net profit of $1.95 million. Men's basketball at the same schools produced a median profit of $518,000. No other sport at the FBS schools, measured by median values, showed a program in the black."

Life should not be a journey to the grave to arrive safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What A Ride!" HST

Michigan generates $99mil in revenue and spends $85mil. Ohio State generates $115mil but spends $114mil....sweet Jesus! What are they doing to need almost $30mil more a year to operate athletics than Michigan? It's not like they're in a state with higher cost of living. I know they have some more sports but they are playing with fire. If the contributions well dries up for them they might be in some serious trouble.

My understanding was the Athletic Department, when paying the scholarship for the player, regardless of the home state, paid out of state tuition for the player. Maybe not a big point, but at the end of the day, the U pulls a few more bucks than they normally would have, for the butt in the classroom seat.